California Gun Laws?

Handgun *ownership* is effectively unrestricted by CA State law. There are registration and waiting period laws, but any law-abiding citizen can buy a handgun under State law. The State law also contains language prohibiting any city or county from pre-empting State law on the matter.

"Open carry" (carrying a handgun in plain view - on your belt, for example) is also legal under State law, but local jurisdictions may ban it, and most urban jurisdictions have done so. Concealed carry permits are issued by police chiefs or sheriffs, and vary hugely from place to place. In some, such as San Francisco, Democratic politicians are effectively the only people who can get a CCW. In others, such as some of the farming counties in the central valley, there are "must issue" laws under which a CCW can be denied only if the sheriff or police chief as a 'clearly articulable' reason to do so.

"Assault Rifle" sales are banned by State law, but people who owned one prior to the law passing may keep it, so long as it is registered. Only a small percentage of people who own them, though, have done so.

A lot of this is because people simply don't know they own an assault weapon. The definition of "assault weapon" includes, for example, a pump or semi-automatic shotgun capable of holding 6 or more shells. Most modern shotguns are designed to hold five shells, so most shotgun owners don't think they own an assault weapon. BUT..... most shotguns have tubular magazines. If, instead of standard 2 3/4" shells, you load with compact, or 'British' shells - which are only 2" - you can load 6. This means that almost all newer shotguns, except for pure breechloaders, are "assault weapons" under the law.

Likewise, the Remington .22 that thousands of kids have used to plink tin cans and the like has a tubular magazine advertised as holding 15 .22 long rifle rounds. Again, though, if you buy 'short' rounds, it can hold 20 - which means little Johnny's target gun is, under the law, an assault rifle.

With handguns, the definition is even more sweeping. Since almost all automatics are capable of accepting an extended magazine that sticks down out of the bottom of the grip, almost all meet the definition of an assault pistol ("Capable of accepting" a magazine of more than 10 rounds, whether you own such a magazine or not)

Tens of thousands of Californians are committing a felony by owning an unregistered assault weapon, and don't even know it. The vast majority believe themselves to be law-abiding gunowners, and are disabused of this only when the gun somehow comes to the notice of the cops, and they are charged with a felony - meaning they can never own a gun again.

Richard

You would be better to google the actual law, then you can read it throughly. I wouldnt trust any answers here as being correct and if you broke the law then saying what you were told on here wouldnt really help.

I say **** the gun laws. We should have the right to own guns. The criminals will always own guns no matter how many ******* laws you pass. The laws are just forcing us, good citizens, to go to the criminal underground to get our guns.